-V3 

1  3  '^x 


}  5!>1~ 


Fo  reign  M  ission  Aspects 

of  the 

Five  Ye  ar  Pr  ogram 

WE  are  living  in  an  age  in  which  everything  is  judged  in  terms  of  bigness 
and  immensity.  The  day  of  small  things  has  passed  away.  World 
events  are  measuring  up  to  gigantic  proportions.  War  is  waged  on  a 
scale  hitherto  unknown  in  military  history.  Industrial  corporations  wax  great  and 
mighty.  In  international  politics  colossal  armaments  and  strategic  positions  are 
the  deciding  factors.  Because  they  have  discovered  the  secret  of  huge  organ¬ 
ization  the  forces  of  evil  are  intrenching  themselves  more  firmly  into  every 
realm  of  human  life.  Mammonism  and  materialism  have  seemingly  reached  the 
zenith  of  their  power. 

In  a  world  situation  such  as  this  the  Church  must  rise  to  the  emergency. 
Feeble  efforts  cannot  conquer  mighty  evils.  When  Adoniram  Judson  sent  back 
his  appeal  from  Burma  it  was  the  bigness  of  the  challenge  that  organized  Baptists 
into  a  missionary  denomination.  Any  undertaking  that  demands  vision,  courage, 
heroism,  always  appeals  and  generally  wins.  So  the  Church  in  order  to  make  the 
world  crisis  of  today  a  turning  point  in  the  history  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  must 
present  a  program  of  effort  so  big,  so  tremendous  and  so  compelling  as  to  challenge 
the  attention  of  the  world.  Let  there  be  no  misunderstanding.  A  mere  program 
however  gigantic  will  not  challenge  unless  there  is  behind  it  a  mighty  spiritual 
emphasis  that  will  assure  success. 

The  Five  Year  Program  adopted  by  the  Northern  Baptist  Convention  at 
Los  Angeles,  California,  May  24,  1915,  will  probably  be  recorded  in  denominational 
history  as  the  greatest  forward  step  since  the  days  of  Judson.  Its  bigness  is  seen 
in  its  heroic,  statesmanlike  missionary  aims.  The  realization  of  its  objective 
would  give  the  Baptist  denomination  a  world  influence  heretofore  unreached. 
The  several  goals  of  the  program  as  they  relate  to  the  work  °f  the  American  Baptist 
Foreign  Mission  Society  are  therefore  worthy  of  special  consideration. 

'  THE  FIRST  GOAL  IS  THE  BAPTISM  OF  ONE  MILLION  CON¬ 
VERTS  AT  HOME  AND  ABROAD  WITHIN  THE  NEXT  FIVE  YEARS, 
The  number  mentioned  is  by  no  means  too  high.  If  every  one  of  the  1,552,016 
Baptists  at  home  and  abroad  today  would  be  the  means  of  winning  one  individual 
each  for  the  Kingdom  during  a  period  of  five  years  there  would  result  an 
addition  by  baptism  of  552,016  more  than  the  desired  million.  A  revived 
emphasis  on  personal  evangelism  would  easily  accomplish  this  result.  One  danger, 
however,  needs  to  be  recognized  at  the  beginning.  In  the  endeavor  to  win  a 
million  additions  to  our  churches  great  care  must  be  exercised  that  every  one  of  the 


FOREIGN  MISSION  ASPECTS 


million  comes  as  a  sincere  and  genuine  convert.  The  Baptist  principle  of  regener¬ 
ated  church  membership  must  not  be  placed  in  jeopardy  by  the  lust  of  statistics. 

The  missionaries  of  the  Foreign  Mission  Society  have  always  emphasized  evan¬ 
gelism.  Since  the  days  of  Adoniram  Judson  317,790  converts  have  been  baptized 
in  non-Christian  lands  and  282,151  in  Europe,  a  total  of  599,941  baptisms. 

The  opportunities  presenting  themselves  to  the  missionaries  at  the  present  time 
give  assurance  that  even  larger  results  may  be  expected  in  the  immediate  future. 
Present  indications  point  to  an  evangelistic  ingathering  within  the  next  five  years 
which  will  easily  constitute  the  foreign  field  share  of  the  coveted  million  accessions. 
The  mass  movements  in  India  are  well  known  to  all  Baptists  who  remember  the 
name  of  Dr.  John  E.  Clough.  Spiritual  forces  at  work  in  India  today  are  be¬ 
ginning  to  give  evidence  of  results  and  the  near  future  will  undoubtedly  witness 
an  acceptance  of  Christianity  on  a  gigantic  scale  never  before  experienced  in 
Christian  history.  Recently  a  report  came  from  one  of  our  missionaries  in  Burma 
that  in  the  Kengtung  field  the  Christian  leaven  had  been  working  its  way  for 
fifteen  years  and  now  there  are  hundreds  of  villages  with  a  total  population  of 
several  thousand  anxiously  begging  for  missionaries  and  workers  and  expressing 
a  readiness  to  accept  the  gospel  immediately.  The  wonderful  results  of  the 
recent  evangelistic  meetings  among  the  educated  classes  in  China  have  challenged 
the  attention  of  the  entire  Christian  world  and  missionaries  are  of  the  opinion 
that  these  are  but  the  beginnings  of  a  great  awakening  in  China,  if  only  adequate 
advantage  is  taken  of  the  present  favorable  situation.  The  three  year  evangelistic 
campaign  throughout  Japan  has  already  experienced  remarkable  success  although 
little  more  than  a  year  has  passed  since  it  was  inaugurated.  These  and  many 
other  opportunities  lie  before  the  missionaries  of  the  Society  today  and  there 
is  every  prospect  that  the  period  covered  by  the  Five  Year  Program  will  witness 
the  greatest  foreign  mission  achievements  in  the  history  of  the  denomination. 

In  view  of  the  foregoing  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Society  desire  to  place 
on  record  the  following  recommendations: 

First:  That  there  be  a  fresh  recognition  of  the  primary  importance  of  evangelism 
in  all  foreign  mission  endeavor. 

Second:  That  there  be  effected  a  thorough  use  of  other  agencies  in  foreign 
mission  work  not  specifically  known  as  evangelistic  for  securing  greater  evange¬ 
listic  results. 

Third:  That  there  be  a  re-emphasis  on  adherence  to  the  fundamental  principle 
of  genuine  conversion  before  acceptance  for  baptism. 

THE  SECOND  GOAL  IS  A  TOTAL  MISSIONARY  FORCE  OF 
FIVE  THOUSAND  MEN  AND  WOMEN  IN  AMERICA  AND  IN 
THE  NON-CHRISTIAN  WORLD.  The  force  at  present  numbers  3612 
of  whom  559  are  in  the  service  of  the  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission 

[  2  ] 


of  the  FIVE  YEAR  PROGRAM 


Society,  not  including  those  connected  with  the  Woman’s  Society.  If  the 
present  proportion  of  workers  in  America  and  on  the  foreign  field  is  main¬ 
tained  the  foreign  missionaries  ought  to  number  774  at  the  end  of  five  years. 

A  study  of  the  totals  of  recent  years  is  of  particular  interest.  Since  1911,  the 
year  after  the  Society  assumed  responsibility  for  the  mission  in  Bengal-Orissa, 
formerly  maintained  by  the  Free  Baptists,  the  number  of  missionaries  reported 
each  year  was  as  follows: 

Year  Missionary  Staff  New  Missionaries  Sent  Out 


Woman’s  Woman’s 


A.B.F.M.S. 

Society 

Total 

A.B.F.M.S. 

Society 

Total 

1911 

543 

179 

722 

31 

16 

47 

1912 

535 

162 

697 

26 

7 

33 

1913 

536 

165 

701 

25 

10 

35 

1914 

559 

153 

712 

22 

8 

30 

Thus  it  will  be  observed  that  although  104  new  missionaries  sailed  for  the  field 
there  was  a  net  increase  of  only  1 6  in  the  total  during  the  four  years.  The  loss  was 
occasioned  by  death,  illness,  retirement  and  numerous  other  contingencies.  Con¬ 
sequently,  if  the  foreign  mission  force  is  to  be  increased  to  774  at  the  end  of  five 
years  it  means  that  not  alone  must  225,  the  difference  between  774  and  559  be 
added  to  the  current  workers,  but  in  addition  a  sufficient  number  of  new  mis¬ 
sionaries  must  be  sent  out  to  take  the  places  of  those  who  may  die  or  become 
incapacitated  for  further  service.  In  other  words  the  225  must  represent  a  net 
increase  in  five  years  as  compared  with  a  net  increase  of  only  1 6  in  four  years. 

The  importance  of  increasing  the  foreign  missionary  staff  cannot  be  over¬ 
emphasized.  The  demand  for  reenforcements  merely  to  provide  for  the  normal 
development  of  the  work  already  begun  is  prodigious.  It  is  difficult  to  forecast 
whether  a  total  force  of  774  at  the  end  of  five  years  will  be  able  to  undertake  more 
than  the  supervision  of  this  normal  development  without  even  thinking  of  advance 
work.  The  opportunities  indicated  above,  of  reaping  a  harvest  of  more  than  Pen¬ 
tecostal  dimensions  show  clearly  how  tremendous  is  the  need  of  additional  workers. 

Aside  from  this  there  are  loud  calls  for  reenforcements  for  purposes  of  relief. 
Scores  of  missionaries,  because  their  associates  have  been  disabled  or  are  on  furlough, 
are  overburdened  with  work.  In  some  cases  one  missionary  is  doing  the  duties 
of  three  thereby  placing  a  heavy  mortgage  upon  his  own  future  strength  and 
efficiency.  Missionaries  coming  home  on  furlough  frequently  are  compelled  to 
leave  their  entire  work  in  charge  of  native  preachers  because  no  other  missionaries 
can  be  assigned  to  take  their  places.  The  unspeakable  loneliness  of  the  mis¬ 
sionary’s  life  also  cries  aloud  for  reenforcements,  even  if  for  no  other  reason  than 
companionship.  A  missionary  and  his  wife  are  today  alone  in  a  jungle  station  in 
Africa  surrounded  by  cannibal  tribes.  Another  missionary,  whose  wife  because 
of  illness  is  in  America,  is  absolutely  alone  in  the  hills  of  Assam,  the  nearest  white 

[  3  ] 


FOREIGN  MISSION  ASPECTS 


man  being  a  government  officer  forty  miles  away.  Recently  a  new  recruit  nearly 
lost  his  life  because  no  medical  missionary  was  available  in  an  hour  of  emergency. 
For  these  and  many  others  in  dire  need  of  help  the  second  goal  of  the  Five  Year 
Program  has  not  been  advocated  too  soon. 

In  view  of  these  representative  facts  the  Board  recommend  the  following: 

First:  The  appointment  of  a  sufficient  number  of  new  missionaries  within  the 
next  five  years  to  result  in  a  net  increase  of  225  in  the  total  missionary  force  (it 
being  understood  that  this  total  would  represent  the  proportion  of  the  desired 
five  thousand  at  home  and  abroad) . 

Second:  The  cooperation  of  every  agency  and  institution  having  relations 
with  the  young  people  of  the  denomination  in  emphasizing  the  claims  and  needs 
of  foreign  mission  service. 

Third:  The  placing  of  fresh  emphasis  upon  the  divine  call  and  the  sacrificial 
consecration  involved  in  a  missionary  career. 

THE  THIRD  GOAL  IS  AN  ENDOWMENT  OF  TWO  MILLION 
DOLLARS  FOR  THE  MINISTERS*  AND  MISSIONARIES’  BENEFIT 
BOARD.  It  is  within  the  facts  to  say  that  the  denomination  as  a  whole  has 
failed  heretofore  to  make  provision  for  the  adequate  support  of  its  ministers  and 
missionaries  who  have  given  the  best  years  of  their  lives  to  the  work  of  the  King¬ 
dom  and  are  now  physically  incapacitated  for  further  service.  The  Ministers’  and 
Missionaries’  Benefit  Board,  although  of  recent  origin,  has  already  demonstrated 
the  need  and  importance  of  its  existence.  The  appeals  that  have  come  for  aid  to 
servants  of  the  denomination,  crippled,  nervously  wrecked,  in  poverty  and  dis¬ 
tress,  often  with  families  dependent  upon  them  for  support,  have  been  pitiful 
and  worthy  of  every  consideration.  The  denomination  which  they  have  served 
owes  them  not  charity  but  justice,  and  in  their  closing  years  they  deserve  that 
relief  from  earthly  care  and  the  horror  of  want  which  they  were  not  able  to 
guarantee  for  themselves  because  of  meagre  salaries  while  in  active  service.  The 
recent  large  gifts  to  the  Board  ought  to  prove  a  great  inspiration  in  the  effort  to 
secure  the  full  endowment  of  two  million  which  is  not  by  any  means  too  large. 

The  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society  is  vitally  interested  in  this 
matter.  The  work  of  the  missionary  is  such  that  even  the  most  physically 
robust  frequently  give  way  under  the  terrible  strain  of  loneliness,  climatic  con¬ 
ditions  and  other  features  of  environment.  Often  their  health  is  so  impaired  and 
irretrievably  wrecked  as  not  only  to  make  return  to  the  field  impossible  but  also 
to  disable  them  permanently  for  any  service  at  home.  Consequently  the 
Society  is  morally  bound  to  provide  for  them  so  long  as  their  lives  are  spared. 
A  broken  constitution,  return  to  America,  the  abandonment  of  a  career,  the  shat¬ 
tering  of  noble  ambitions,  the  gloomy  prospect  of  future  years  of  physical  suffering 
and  distress  and  with  it  all  the  knowledge  of  the  vast  untouched  opportunity  and 
need  on  the  field — these  are  some  of  the  tragedies  that  come  into  a  missionary’s  life. 

[  4  ] 


of  the  FIVE  YEAR  PROGRAM 


There  are  today  twenty-five  missionaries,  including  widows,  who  because  of 
age,  infirmity  and  ill  health  cannot  render  active  service.  Of  these  fourteen  have 
spent  thirty  years  and  more  on  the  distant  frontier  lines  of  Christianity.  During 
the  past  four  years  the  Society  has  paid  a  total  of  $61,197.79  in  the  form  of  aid, 
grants  and  allowances  for  the  support  of  these  missionaries  and  dependent  widows. 
The  total  was  distributed  as  follows: 


1914-1915 

1913—1914 

1912-1913 

1911-1912 


$17,525.67 

15,150.00 

13,284.12 

15,238.00 


Thus  the  average  annual  expenditure  for  the  care  of  retired  veterans  amounts  to 
$15,299.45,  which  would  represent  the  income  of  a  fund  of  approximately  $400,000 
figured  at  four  per  cent.  Could  provision  be  made  for  these  missionaries  from 
other  funds,  there  would  be  released  more  than  $15,000  for  the  regular  work  of 
advancing  the  Kingdom  in  the  ten  mission  fields  now  maintained. 

In  view  of  this  the  Board  of  Managers  recommend  in  connection  with  the 
third  goal  in  the  Five  Year  Program  the  following: 

The  ultimate  assumption  by  the  Ministers*  and  Missionaries’  Benefit  Board 
of  the  care  of  all  retired  missionaries  and  dependent  widows,  the  support  of  whom 
is  now  being  provided  for  out  of  current  funds  of  the  Society. 

THE  FOURTH  GOAL  IS  A  FUND  OF  SIX  MILLION  DOL- 
LARS  FOR  ADDITIONAL  EDUCATIONAL  ENDOWMENT  AND 
EQUIPMENT  AT  HOME  AND  ABROAD.  In  the  realization  of  this 
aim  the  Foreign  Mission  Society  is  deeply  concerned  for  the  reason  that 
in  its  broadest  sense  educational  work  on  the  foreign  field  in  importance  is 
secondary  only  to  that  of  evangelism.  While  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  by 
foreign  missionaries  will  continue  indefinitely,  it  must  inevitably  give  place  as  soon 
as  practicable  to  evangelization  by  native  Christian  forces.  This  demands  an 
educational  work  adequate  to  the  task  of  training  native  leaders,  for  if  an  educated 
and  trained  ministry  is  of  pressing  importance  in  America  it  is  of  infinitely  more 
importance  in  the  foreign  field.  Without  primary  and  secondary  schools  the 
native  church  may  be  evangelized  but  remains  unintelligent  and  inefficient.  With¬ 
out  institutions  of  higher  education  native  leaders  cannot  be  trained  to  take  the 
initiative  in  the  growth  and  development  of  the  church  and  in  influencing  and 
moulding  the  life  and  thought  of  the  nation.  Evangelism  and  education  are  there¬ 
fore  both  essential  for  the  successful  achievement  of  the  foreign  mission  enterprise. 

A  brief  survey  of  the  educational  work  of  the  Society  would  indicate  even  to 
a  casual  observer  how  inadequate  are  the  present  institutions  maintained  by  the 
Society,  both  in  number  and  equipment,  for  the  successful  training  of  native 
workers  who  in  cooperation  with  our  foreign  missionaries  shall  carry  on  the  work 


[  5  ] 


FOREIGN  MISSION  ASPECTS 


of  evangelizing  their  people.  The  educational  opportunities  are  vast  while  the 
needs  are  overwhelmingly  great.  Out  of  every  1 000  children  in  China  only  eight 
are  attending  schools,  the  other  992  grow  into  manhood  and  womanhood  ignorant 
and  illiterate.  Compare  this  with  the  United  States  where  720  children  out  of 
every  1,000  are  in  school.  In  India  after  decades  of  reformatory  and  educational 
work  on  the  part  of  the  British  government  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  population 
are  still  illiterate.  Concerning  Africa  no  statistics  are  available  or  necessary  to 
convey  a  picture  of  the  ignorance  in  the  dark  continent.  For  such  needs  the 
Society  is  maintaining  independently  and  in  cooperation  with  other  societies  five 
colleges,  twenty -nine  training  schools  or  theological  seminaries  and  2344  secondary 
and  primary  schools  with  a  total  enrolment  of  approximately  81,000  pupils.  In 
view  of  the  need  for  educational  privileges  for  the  Christian  communities  and  in 
view  of  the  countless  population  which  ought  to  be  reached  and  could  be  reached 
by  Christian  schools,  the  number  of  such  institutions,  especially  of  primary  and 
secondary  grade,  ought  to  be  greatly  increased. 

Moreover,  the  equipment  of  practically  all  our  institutions  of  higher  education 
is  so  inadequate  that  the  attainment  of  even  a  reasonable  degree  of  efficiency  is 
surprising  and  the  recorded  success  from  year  to  year  is  therefore  all  the  more 
remarkable.  While  the  Rangoon  Baptist  College  has  the  best  equipment  of  any 
of  our  higher  schools  there  nevertheless  is  urgent  need  for  a  students’  dining  hall 
and  a  chemical  laboratory.  Buildings  for  the  Bible  school,  high  school,  and  in¬ 
dustrial  department  of  the  Jorhat  Christian  Schools  in  Assam  are  an  immediate 
necessity.  In  West  China  the  Society  is  asked  to  contribute  at  once  $12,500  for 
the  erection  of  the  central  buildings  for  the  West  China  Union  University.  Mis¬ 
sionaries’  residences  and  a  students’  dormitory  are  needed  for  the  Baptist 
College  and  Seminary  at  Shanghai,  and  $15,000  should  be  provided  at  once  for 
buildings  for  the  Japan  Baptist  Theological  Seminary.  A  central  recitation  build¬ 
ing  is  greatly  needed  for  the  Congo  Evangelical  Training  Institution  at  Kimpesi. 
Numerous  school  buildings  are  urgently  required  for  the  lower  schools  in  South 
India,  Bengal,  Assam,  Burma  and  China.  These  are  but  typical  of  many 
needs  that  might  be  mentioned  for  which  funds  have  been  insufficient. 

The  Society  has  thus  far  found  it  financially  impossible  to  perform  adequately 
the  dual  function  of  an  evangelistic  and  educational  agency.  Baptist  institutions 
at  home  are  cared  for  by  separate  boards  of  trustees  and  have  distinct  constituencies 
to  whom  appeals  are  made  for  funds.  A  church  and  a  school  might  make  separate 
appeals  even  to  the  same  constituency.  On  the  foreign  field  the  evangelistic 
and  educational  tasks  are  so  intimately  related  and  so  interdependent  as  to  make 
such  a  separation  unwise,  if  not  impossible.  The  Society  therefore  has 
been  obliged  to  use  for  both  education  and  evangelism  funds  raised  on  the 
basis  of  a  single  appeal.  Immense  relief  would  be  afforded  if  special  sources  of 
support  could  be  opened  for  supplying  the  distinctive  and  heavy  demands  of  the 
educational  work. 


[  6  ] 


of  the  FIVE  YEAR  PROGRAM 


The  amount  appropriated  annually  by  the  Board  for  the  maintenance  of  educa¬ 
tional  work  on  the  field  approximates  $140,000.  This  fund  includes  the  salaries 
of  missionaries  and  native  teachers,  educational  material,  and  upkeep  of  buildings, 
and  assistance  to  students.  If  an  endowment  were  to  be  sought  sufficient  to 
provide  for  this  annual  expenditure  not  less  than  $3,500,000  would  be  required. 
It  is  the  judgment  of  the  Board,  however,  that  funds  for  endowment  should  be  for 
educational  work  in  general  rather  than  for  specific  institutions  in  order  to 
secure  the  largest  possible  cooperation  of  the  native  Christian  community  in 
support  of  these  institutions  which  ultimately  will  come  under  their  control. 

The  Board  of  Managers  therefore  recommend  the  following: 

First:  That  of  the  proposed  fund  of  “six  million  dollars  for  additional  educa¬ 
tional  endowment  and  equipment  at  home  and  abroad,”  at  least  one  million  dollars 
be  assigned  for  equipment  and  endowment  of  educational  institutions  now  main¬ 
tained  and  hereafter  organized  by  the  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society. 

Second:  That  there  be  accorded  to  educational  work  on  the  foreign  field  a 
fuller  recognition  of  its  importance  in  the  transfer  of  responsibilities  from  the 
foreign  missionary  to  native  leadership. 

THE  FINAL  GOAL  IS  AN  ANNUAL  INCOME  OF  SIX  MILLION 
DOLLARS  FOR  MISSIONS  AND  BENEVOLENCE.  Since  the  contribu¬ 
tions  to  the  work  of  the  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society  are  greater 
than  those  to  any  other  organization  within  the  denomination,  it  is  only  natural 
that  the  Society  should  be  vitally  concerned  in  the  realization  of  this  goal.  The 
desired  total  is  by  no  means  high  when  compared  with  the  amount  now  raised 
each  year  for  missions  and  benevolence.  According  to  the  financial  reports  of 
the  several  societies  as  published  in  the  Northern  Baptist  Convention  Annual 
for  1915  the  amounts  received  from  all  sources  for  all  missionary  purposes 
during  the  preceding  financial  year  reached  a  total  of  approximately  three 
million,  five  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

It  will  be  observed,  therefore,  that  the  goal  of  six  million  dollars  means 
an  increase  of  about  seventy  per  cent,  of  the  amount  now  raised  annually. 
This  is  not  expected  immediately,  but  by  gradual  increases  over  a  period  of 
five  years,  so  that  for  the  fiscal  year  closing  March  31,  1920,  every  one  of 
the  denominational  missionary  organizations  will  be  able  to  report  receipts 
approximately  seventy  per  cent,  more  than  they  reported  March  31,  1915. 

The  Foreign  Mission  Society  has  today  abundant  opportunities  calling  for 
increased  appropriations  which  because  of  lack  of  funds  are  not  available.  One 
reason  for  the  adoption  of  the  intensive  policy  was  that  the  normal  development  of 
the  work  already  begun  could  not  be  provided  for  out  of  present  financial  resources. 
A  large  increase  in  the  Society’s  income  would  permit  the  increase  in  missionary 
force  required  by  the  second  goal.  There  would  be  adequate  provision  for  the 
maintenance  and  equipment  of  hospitals  and  the  construction  of  church  buildings 

[  7  ] 


FOREIGN  MISSION  ASPECTS 


and  residences  so  sorely  needed  on  all  the  mission  fields.  Numerous  additional 
native  evangelists  and  preachers  could  be  engaged  thereby  making  possible  a 
thorough,  adequate  and  systematic  cultivation  of  every  field.  Furthermore  such 
an  increase  would  permit  large  advance  work  in  fields  now  unoccupied  by  any 
foreign  mission  organization.  Moreover,  so  large  a  sum  could  be  administered 
and  expended  annually  without  any  appreciable  increase  in  home  expenditures. 
In  fact  the  percentage  of  home  expense  could  actually  he  greatly  reduced . 

In  view  of  this  the  Board  recommend: 

The  gradual  increase  in  contributions  for  foreign  missions  so  that  the  annual 
income  at  the  end  of  five  years  shall  show  an  increase  of  seventy  per  cent,  of  what 
is  now  received  in  order  to  make  possible 

First:  Provision  for  the  addition  of  $100,000  in  expenditures  for  the  current 
year  as  authorized  by  the  Northern  Baptist  Convention  to  prevent  actual  retrench¬ 
ment  in  the  work  now  conducted. 

Second:  Adequate  financial  support  for  the  normal  development  of  the  work 
already  begun,  and 

Third:  Enlargement  and  expansion  of  the  work  as  rapidly  as  the  increase  in 
resources  will  permit. 

From  the  foregoing  brief  consideration  of  the  foreign  mission  aspects  of  the 
Five  Year  Program  it  will  be  noticed  that  there  is  a  logical  sequence  in  the  five 
goals  which  probably  has  not  been  noticed  heretofore.  The  winning  on  the  foreign 
field  of  the  desired  proportion  of  the  one  million  converts  obviously  depends,  hu¬ 
manly  speaking,  on  a  large  increase  in  missionary  forces  and  a  larger  use  of  native 
agencies.  This  in  turn  shows  the  necessity  of  making  more  adequate  provision  for 
the  closing  years  of  missionary  veterans  who  have  placed  their  health  and  life’s 
strength  upon  the  altar  of  foreign  service.  Again  the  larger  force  of  missionaries  can¬ 
not  do  justice  to  their  calling  or  their  tasks  without  equipment  for  the  education  and 
training  of  native  leaders.  And  as  indicated  in  the  final  goal,  this  advance  in 
missionary  endeavor  can  be  possible  only  with  a  corresponding  increase  in  mis¬ 
sionary  resources. 

One  consideration  remains.  Above  all  else  the  spiritual  emphasis  must  be 
maintained.  Without  it  the  five  goals  are  but  mere  denominational  dreams 
beyond  all  possibility  of  realizatisn.  Theological  conceptions  may  change 
and  dogmas  may  come  and  go  but  truth  abides.  The  world  is  still  lost  in 
sin  and  the  gospel  is  still  the  only  cure.  With  this  truth  continually 
emphasized,  with  a  revival  of  denominational  prayer  and  with  the  inspiration 
that  comes  from  a  recognition  of  human  cooperation  with  the  divine,  the  five 
year  program  can  be  realized  and  it  will  prove  to  be  a  worthy  accomplishment  for 
a  denomination  such  as  ours  to  undertake. 


[  8  ] 


— 20M— 11-1-1915 


FOR  additional  copies 
of  this  pamphlet  or 
information  regarding 
the  work  of  the  American 
Baptist  Foreign  Mission 
Society,  write  to  any  of 
the  following: 

The  nearest  District 
Secretary. 

Department  of  Missionary 
Education,  23  East  26th 
Street,  New  York  City. 

Literature  Department, 
Box  41,  Boston,  Mass. 


